Enhancing Higher Education through research - University of Brighton research conference 2012

Summary report of the sessions I attended at today's University of Brighton research conference.

1. Introductory Talk: Student Voice: what does this mean in practice?Dr Carol Robinson, University of Brighton

I made a visual recording of Carol's talk - a challenging look at what we really mean when we talk about listening to our students. Do we really listen to all of our students, and are we really prepared to make changes when we hear the answers?

(also available as a flat graphic)

2. Laptops in classrooms and fingers on mobiles – a few of my favourite things
Dr Sue Greener - Brighton Business School

Sue's message was about not being afraid to rethink boundaries and to let students use technology - their own technology - in the classroom.

Laptops in classrooms and fingers on mobiles on Prezi

I liked the scale Sue presented to make you think about how you are using technology as I hadn't seen this before. It's from the "As We May Teach" podcast series by Dr Ruben Puentedura (the first video).

As We May Teach - Dr Puentedura

Starting from the bottom of the scale see where your own technology in teaching usage fits.

Sue describes herself as wanting to be a stimulator of learning, and stressed the importance - and joy - of letting yourself also be a learner in the classroom.

3. Undergraduate supervision: How does supervision contribute to learning?
Dr Kate Williamson - School of Education

Kate talked about her research into the impact of the supervisory process on student's learning. She highlighted some of the anxieties students felt when undertaking their dissertation and experiencing one-to-one supervision for the first time, but also the incredible skills the students gained through the process: the ability to articulate clearly, autonomy, time management and organisation.

The discussion looked at how to find a balance between preparing the student's for the anxiety they might experience, but also not avoiding the challenges inherent in pursuing your own research for the first time.

Kate is now looking to see if there are ways we can track learning through the supervisory process, making more of the supervisors experiences of the journey the student's are taking.

4. Web 2.0 in the Classroom: Web-enabled action-learning. examples in hospitality teaching
Ioannis Pantelidis - School of Service Management

Ioannis's talk, about Prezi, made my day. I'm a big Prezi fan, but he showed us examples of how he's been using Prezi interactively in class with his students by pressing the "edit together" button which has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me:

Web 2.0 in the Classroom on Prezi

A quote from Ioannis: "It's not about the technology, it's about how we perceive and use the technology to achieve our goals."

Prezi is on our list of external applications that we want to consider specifically in regard to the universities Guidelines when using external services for learning. It's one of those things with great potential, but also real risks (I've been personally caught out once when it decided not to load any of the fonts for me and there was nothing I could do. All ok 10 mins later, but scary!).

The "edit together" technique is one I will be trying out in the near future, so will post more about that - watch this space.

5. eSubmission – UK policies and practice
Dr Barbara Newland - Centre for Learning and Teaching

Barbara talked about an evaluation she (and colleagues) did looking at the use of eSubmission across UK universities.

eSubmission – UK Policies, Practice and Support

 

The discussion centred around use of TurnItIn at the University of Brighton, the drivers for it's usage, the benefits for students and staff, but also the anxieties for both parties. There is a lot of interest in using Dragon Dictate software to speak your feedback into TurnItIn. It seems to me now there are established - and reliable - eSubmission systems, the next step is to improve the eMarking systems. I'm looking at iAnnotatePDF (and iPad app) as a good way of marking work on an iPad, an alternative to trying to read 100 essays on your desktop computer screen, allowing scribbles and typed annotations with ease.

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My thanks to the conference organisers, I think the format of this conference (5 morning sessions, then lunch - that's it!) is ideal for maintaining focus. It was good to catch up with a lot of colleagues as well - too many to mention, but I'm looking forward especially to those who have offered to buy me a coffee for follow-up chats!